It is rare that a government officially acknowledges that a cyberattack has resulted in physical damage, but Germany’s admission could be a sign that “it’s becoming more normal and expected to talk about these things rather than run from them,” a cybersecurity expert says.

Andy Jassy, senior vice president of Amazon.com Inc.’s Amazon Web Services unit, says the company is prioritizing where it locates data centers, and Germany is “one of the few countries” where customers are asking for a data center “on their own soil.”

The German government said Wednesday that it plans to build up the European IT sector to provide stronger alternatives to American companies that are subject to surveillance by the U.S. National Security Agency. It is the second time in a week that Germans have moved to protect themselves against the perceived privacy threat posed by the U.S. If U.S. companies don’t respond, they could wind up paying a permanent commercial price for the NSA leaks.

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